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‘Harvey doesn’t really understand what’s happened but the rest of us are devastated,’ he said. ‘I can’t put into words how I feel about the people who have done this. We didn’t have a Christmas Day.

‘Later in the evening we sat and opened a few presents but our hearts weren’t in it.’

Harvey is autistic and suffers from Phelan-McDermid syndrome, a genetic brain disorder which means he has a variety of physical and mental problems, including difficulties with learning, memory and he does not recognise danger.

Police are now investigating to see if they can track down whoever started the fire

Arsonists destroyed a shed that had been converted into a sensory room for Christmas

A guinea pig hutch next to the summer house had also been set alight, but the two guinea pigs escaped unharmed

Mrs Ratcliff, 34, a part-time shop assistant, added: ‘Sometimes he forgets skills he’s learned and there are mornings when he wakes up and cannot remember how to walk.’ At such times the little boy is confined to a wheelchair.

‘The playhouse was going to be his own space, somewhere safe where he could do his own thing,’ she said. Mr Ratcliff added: ‘So many people – family and friends – helped out putting this together for Harvey. The thieves have taken the lights and the digital radio and the floor is fire damaged.’

The couple, who live in Wythenshawe, Manchester, and also have a nine-month-old girl, Addison, found their guinea pig hutch was also torched but the animals were unharmed.

Mrs Ratcliff added: ‘It’s not millions but we’ve all worked really hard. The one good thing is that Harvey hasn’t seen it.’ Detective Inspector Jane Curran, of Greater Manchester Police, said: ‘Whoever did this has no morals whatsoever.’

Last night, however, there was happy news for the family as a local entrepreneur offered to cover the cost of building Harvey a new playhouse.

Lawrence Jones, of IT firm UKFast, who was moved by the story which had spread on Twitter, wrote: ‘We have builders at the ready. Christmas is about helping.’

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Arsonists destroy sensory room built as a Christmas present to help severely autistic boy